Privacy? No, we haven't heard

[Tomcat]

In the Chinese city of Suzhou (Anhui province), street cameras were used to identify people wearing the “wrong” clothes. Using facial recognition software, officials identified violators and publicly shamed them by posting photos and personal information online. The city administration department believed that in this way it would be possible to eradicate the “uncivilized” habits of city residents. Cloud4Y tells how it all happened.

Start​

Officials of a large city (about 6 million inhabitants) in eastern China received orders to eradicate the “uncivilized behavior” of the population. And they couldn't come up with anything better than to use the facial recognition software used in ubiquitous video cameras. After all, with their help it is so convenient to identify cases of “uncivilized” behavior.

There was even a special explanatory post on WeChat (later deleted) that read: “Uncivilized behavior means that people behave and act in a way that disrupts public order due to their lack of generally accepted morality. Many believe that this is nonsense and not a serious problem... Others believe that public places are truly “public” and should not be subject to surveillance and public pressure. It led to a kind of complacent, undisciplined mindset ."

But what did the city authorities decide to eradicate, what did they consider shameful, uncivilized and deeply vicious? You won't believe it - pajamas! More precisely, wearing pajamas in public places.

The essence of the problem​

Colorful pajamas are common street wear for many women.

It must be said that wearing pajamas in public is common in China, especially among older women who prefer bright colors and floral or cartoon patterns. In winter, this is also a popular form of clothing in southern China, because there, unlike northern cities, most houses do not have central heating. And you can’t go to bed without pajamas. And it is warm, soft, comfortable. I just don’t want to leave! So they wear pajamas all day. Both in the house and on the street. In general, the origin of the tradition of wearing pajamas on the street has a bunch of versions and is widely discussed on the Internet, but everyone agrees on one thing: pajamas are extremely comfortable.

Shanghai, for example, has long been considered the capital of “pajama fashion.” In 2009, authorities tried to ban the practice by posting outdoor advertisements throughout the city with loud slogans like "Pajamas don't leave the house" or "Be a civilized citizen." Moreover, even a special “pajama police” was created to patrol different areas of the city. But since the initiative was tied to a major economic event, after its completion the activity of the fight against pajama wearers sharply decreased. And the tradition has been preserved.

We went further to Suzhou. They tracked the offenders for some time, and then published photographs of seven city residents wearing pajamas in public places. In addition to photographs taken from surveillance cameras, names, numbers of government ID cards, as well as addresses of places where “uncivilized behavior” was observed were published.

It didn't take that much time to do everything. Information bases were stored in the cloud, and analysis of existing and incoming data was performed literally “on the fly.” This made it possible to quickly identify persistent violators.

Using social media, the Suzhou department publicly shamed a young woman surnamed Dong, who was seen wearing a chic pink robe, trousers and pointy orange ballet shoes. Likewise, a man surnamed Niu was criticized as he was seen walking around a shopping mall in a black and white checkered pajama suit.

This activity of officials caused a wave of discontent on the Internet. As one commentator aptly noted, "These things happen when very high technology falls into the hands of very low level bureaucrats, and by low level I mean low level intelligence."

Note that public shaming is a common practice in China. Laser pointers are being used in movie theaters to shame moviegoers who play on their phones during screenings. And in Shanghai, facial recognition systems have been installed at some pedestrian crossings in order to identify escaped prisoners.

There were other examples of government attempts to get rid of "uncivilized" habits. Thus, authorities have introduced fines for spitting in public places, and most recently introduced a ban on the “Beijing bikini ,” a practice in which men roll up their shirts in the summer, exposing their midriff.

Complete video control of society​

The legality of law enforcement using facial recognition software remains a hot topic of debate around the world. In Russia, they are even filing lawsuits against automatic facial recognition. In some places, video surveillance is completely prohibited. Not so in China.

Over the past few years, the use of facial recognition software has become commonplace. Police have used it to create powerful surveillance and identification mechanisms for racial minorities, to catch toilet paper thieves, to manage the pig population, and to manage the panda census. Using this system, Chinese can board a plane or order food.

About toilet paper thieves
Chinese officials have worked for years to curb the excessive use of toilet paper in public places. The crushing poverty of some segments of the population led to the fact that they were forced to use all means of saving. Even on toilet paper.

The toilet paper thieves from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing were an elusive group. They looked like most park visitors, practicing tai chi, dancing in the courtyards and stopping to take in the wonderful smell of ancient cypress and juniper trees. But their huge bags and backpacks did not contain gadgets or mats for relaxing on the grass. There were sheets of crumpled toilet paper, secretly torn from public toilets.

Due to the activities of these people, the toilet paper provided free of charge in the toilets quickly ran out. Tourists had to use their own or look for other toilets. Installing toilet paper dispensers partly solved this problem. But it created a number of inconveniences.

To obtain toilet paper, a visitor must stand in front of a dispenser equipped with a facial scanning system for 3 seconds. The machine will then spit out a sheet of toilet paper two feet long. If visitors demand more, they're out of luck. The machine will not dispense a second roll to the same person within nine minutes.

The scope and real need for facial recognition technology in China, where enthusiasm for new digital tools often outstrips existing capabilities, is not always clear or transparent. However, many Chinese have accepted the technology and are not opposed to it.

However, revealing the names and publicly shaming those who wear pajamas in Suzhou is beyond the pale, many Chinese citizens say. Some WeChat users commented on the department's post that they disagreed with officials' decision to publish personal information online. Others simply wanted to know what was so bad about wearing pajamas in public. After all, “when celebrities wear pajamas to events, they are called fashionable. But when ordinary people wear pajamas to walk the streets, they are called uncivilized,” Internet activists noted.

Results​

Only after the scandal became national did city officials quickly remove the original post and issue a formal apology. They explained their action by saying that Suzhou was competing for the title of “The Most Civilized City in China” in a competition held at the state level. And all the activities of officials were aimed precisely at winning this competition.

It is worth noting that an increasing number of citizens are expressing concern about the confidentiality of personal data and the inviolability of their personal lives. And they are even trying to challenge the growing powers of government agencies to track people. This is understandable. Few people will like the fact that their data, for a far-fetched reason, can easily be leaked onto the Internet by some petty official. You can also create a base of “dissidents,” which will probably almost immediately end up on the black market.

Overall, the story turned out to be funny, but the situation was scary (c). It turns out that it is quite possible to live to see the day when dressing the wrong way, participating in the wrong event, or simply talking to the wrong person can lead to public condemnation from the state and “conscious” law-abiding citizens.